Trinamool suffers major blow as 25,000 Bengali teachers sacked, told to pay back their salaries

Kolkata:

In a major setback for the Mamata Banerjee government, the Calcutta High Court has canceled the 2016 recruitment process for government-aided and aided schools. As per the order, as many as 25,753 appointees will lose their jobs and be refunded the salary drawn since joining along with 12 per cent interest.

A bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi said school teachers who were illegally recruited after submitting blank OMR forms must return their salaries within four weeks. The district magistrate was tasked with collecting money from these teachers.

The court made an exception in its order to ensure that one of the appointees, Soma Das, who was undergoing cancer treatment, retained her job on humanitarian grounds.

The bench, constituted on the directions of the Supreme Court, also ordered the CBI to further investigate the appointment process and submit a report within three months. It also asked the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to start the fresh appointment process.

Read | Court dismisses 25,000 teachers, BJP’s ‘aunt and nephew’ takes dig at Mamata Banerjee

The state government may challenge the order in the Supreme Court. Several Trinamool leaders, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee and former officials, have been jailed in connection with the teacher recruitment case.

Reacting to the order, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the BJP leaders were influencing the judiciary and verdicts.

The Bengal BJP has taken aim at the Trinamool government and said Ms Banerjee and her opponents have been criticized. Her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, ranked second in the party, faces defeat.

BJP Bengal said: “High court canceled around 24,000 SSC recruits from 2016 and CBI can detain anyone. A smile comes on the face of the worthy man. This time, the nephew and his aunt will be defeated. #TMCExposed “.

According to lawyers for some of the petitioners, more than 23 lakh candidates appeared in the 2016 state-level selection examinations and 24,640 vacancies were filled, while 25,753 appointment letters were issued against the vacant posts. These include teachers of classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 and staff of groups C and D.

The Calcutta High Court last year struck down the panel set up by the WBSCC in 2016 and canceled the appointments of 36,000 untrained primary school teachers. This number was later revised to 32,000.

Justice Abhijit Ganguly, who had ordered an Investigation Bureau probe into the case, resigned after several clashes with the ruling Trinamool and is now the BJP candidate in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections people.

Days after the initial verdict, another single judge stayed the verdict until further orders.

In November last year, the Supreme Court had asked the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to constitute a division bench to hear petitions and appeals in recruitment cases and provide six months of protection to those whose appointments were cancelled.